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PlayStation vet Layden warns of tech companies disrupting games

PlayStation vet Layden warns of tech companies disrupting games

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden has warned of non-endemic companies disrupting the games industry.

Speaking at the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit, the industry veteran was asked what challenges faced the market. Layden said that consolidation is a huge issue, describing it potentially being "an enemy of creativity" before saying that the rising costs of business are an "existential threat".

He went on to say that external companies are an issue, too, pointing to the disruption the music industry faced from Apple, when the iTunes giant "convinced everyone that 99 cents per song was a good idea."

"Right now we see all the big players going, 'Oh, gaming? It's bringing in billions of dollars a year? I want a piece of that' And so we have Google, Netflix, Apple and Amazon wanting to get piece and trying to disrupt out industry," Layden said.

He continued: "I'm hoping gaming will be the first industry where we disrupt ourselves. Where it doesn’t take a Google or an Amazon to completely flip the table. We should be smart enough to see these changes coming and prepare ourselves for that eventuality."


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.